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Dinosaurian Tracks and Related Geological Features of the Reddell Point­–Entrance Point Area, Broome, Western Australia

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Dinosaurian Tracks and Related Geological Features of the Reddell Point­–Entrance Point Area, Broome, Western Australia DINOSAURIAN TRACKS AND RELATED GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE REDDELL POINT –ENTRANCE POINT AREA, BROOME, WESTERN AUSTRALIA PALAEONTOLOGICAL SURVEY AS PART OF THE 2018 BROOME SAFE BOAT HARBOUR SITE ASSESSMENT PROCESS STEVEN W. SALISBURY & ANTHONY ROMILIO School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072 September 2018 Salisbury, S. W. and Romilio, A. 2018. Dinosaurian tracks and related geological features of the Reddell Point—Entrance Point area, Broome, Western Australia; palaeontological survey as part of the 2018 Broome Safe Boat Harbour site assessment process. viii + 42p. On the front cover: A partial sauropod trackway in exposures of Broome Sandstone on Reddell Point Beach. © Steven Salisbury On the back cover: A theropod dinosaur track (Megalosauropus broomensis) © Damian Kelly i CONTENTS Acknowledgements ......................................iii Glossary .....................................................iv Executive summary ......................................vi 1. Introduction Background ................................................ 1 National Heritage Listed dinosaurian Cultural significance ................................... 2 tracks of the Reddell Point— Entrance Point Area .................................. 17 Proposal for a Safe Boat Harbour facility on Reddell Point Beach .............................. 3 Main track types .................................. 17 Objectives of the survey ............................. 3 Additional comments on each of the survey zones (A–G; Fig. 8) .................. 19 2. Survey methods Zone A ........................................ 19 Survey area ................................................. 4 Zone B ........................................ 21 Survey dates ............................................... 4 Zone C ........................................ 23 Site access and permits ............................... 5 Zone D ........................................ 26 Indigenous place names ............................. 5 Zone E ........................................ 27 Survey personnel ........................................ 5 Zone F ........................................ 28 Data acquisition .......................................... 6 Zone G ........................................ 29 Data analysis .............................................. 7 4. Discussion 3. Results Overview and significance ....................... 30 Geological setting ....................................... 8 Scientific significance of dinosaurian Beach Sand ................................................. 9 tracks & related geological structures 30 Cable Beach Sand .................................... 10 Cultural significance ........................... 32 Unnamed mottled muddy sand and gravel, Tourism potential ................................. 32 and ironstone breccia ................................ 11 Potential impacts on National Heritage Red sand dunes (Mowanjum Sand; listed dinosaurian tracks associated Quaternary) and perched with a proposed Safe Boat Harbour Holocene white coastal dune sands .......... 12 on Reddell Point Beach ............................ 34 Broome Sandstone (Valanginian–Barremian; Direct impacts ...................................... 34 140–127 million years old) ...................... 13 Other impacts ...................................... 37 General characteristics and age ......... 13 Recommendations .................................... 37 Exposures of Broome Sandstone in the survey area ................................ 13 Concluding remark ................................... 39 Physical characteristics (lithology) of the 5. References cited ....................................... 40 Broome Sandstone in the survey area.. 14 6. Supplementary information ................... 42 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The information presented in this report represents the culmination elly of many years of research and local engagement. Through it all K D. we have benefited greatly from the generous support of Broome’s enthusiastic community of avid ‘dinosaur trackers’. We are particularly grateful to members of the Dinosaur Coast Management Group, most notably Dianne Bennett and Michelle and Leon Teoh. Prior to their departure from Broome, Louise Middleton and Nigel Clark also spent considerable time with us both tracking and sharing their knowledge of dinosaurian tracks in the survey area, while Kevin Foulkes shared much of what he knew from his time tracking with his father, the late Paul Foulkes. For insights into the cultural significance of dinosaurs tracks in the Broome Sandstone and their links to the Song Cycle along the Dampier Peninsula coastline, we thank Goolarabooloo, in particular Richard Hunter, Phillip Roe, Frans Hoogland and late Joseph Roe, members of the Yawuru Community, most notably Micklo Corpus and Stephen ‘Bart’ Pigram, and members of the Yawuru Cultural Advisory Group. For ethnographical insights into cultural links with dinosaurian tracks and orthography we thank Prof Stephen Muecke (University of Adelaide) and Kim Akerman. For insights into the history of dinosaur tracking in the Broome area we thank Robyn Wells and Kylie Jennings (Broome Historical Society and Museum). Damian Kelly has also been extremely generous with his time helping to photograph both dinosaurian tracks and trackers, as well as Kevin Smith and Nadia Rebasti to whom we are grateful for sharing their photographic images. For fieldwork in the survey area carried out between 2011 and 2017 and for discussions on many aspects of the area’s dinosaurian track fauna and related geology, we thank members of the UQ Dino Lab (Linda Pollard, Jay Nair, Andreas Jannel, Dr Ryan Tucker, Dr Matt Herne, Sarah Gray, Pippa Slater (nee Chamberlain), and David Kennedy), Nathan and Rani Middleton, Prof Jorg Hacker and Shakti Chakraverty (Airborne Research Australia), Dr Robert Zlot and Dr George Poropat (formerly CSIRO), Dr Michael Bosse (ETH Zurich), Tim Flannery and Damian Hirsch. Dr Vic Semenuik is also thanked for invaluable discussions on the Quaternary deposits that occur within the survey area. For discussions on National Heritage listing we thank Carmen Lawrence, Kelly Mullen, Kathy Eyles, Sarah Titchen, Jeremy White and Toni Hart (Department of Environment and Energy). Our July 2018 survey work was funded through Shire of Broome and the Western Australian Department of Transport. Research carried out prior to July 2018 that contributed to information presented herein was funded through the Australian Research Council (DP140101745) and The University of Queensland. iii GLOSSARY Ankylosaur: herbivorous dinosaur belonging Ichnology: the study of tracks and traces left by to the group Ankylosauria (‘fused lizard’). both extinct and modern animals (see ‘Track’; Ankylosaurs were heavily armoured herbivores and ‘Trace fossils’). that walked on all four legs. They typically Ichnofauna: a fauna based on ichnological have five to four fingers and/or toes, making evidence (e.g., tracks). their manual (hand) and pedal (foot) tracks hard to distinguish from each other Ichnotaxonomy: a system of taxonomy (see thyreophoran). (biological classification) that is based on tracks and other traces (see ‘Trace fossils’). Fossilised Breakwater: an artificial offshore structure that tracks are classified separately to body fossils protects a harbour, anchorage or marina from (e.g., fossilised bones), and the relationship waves. Breakwaters intercept longshore currents between an ichnotaxon and body fossil taxon is and tend to prevent beach erosion within the not always clear. For example, Megalosauropus area they enclose. broomensis is the name given to a particular Cenozoic Era: interval of geological time type of track, normally attributed to a theropod from 66 million years ago to the present day, dinosaur. When we talk about M. broomensis, divided into the Palaeogene Period (66–23 Ma), we are referring to a type of track, not a type of the Neogene Period (23–2.6 Ma) and dinosaur (the trackmaker). the Quaternary Period (2.6 to the present day). Lithology: the general physical characteristics Couplet: paired and sequential footfalls of a of a rock or rocks. quadrupedal (four-legged) trackmaker that in Manual: in the context of a living animal combination representing one manual (hand) or track that it has made, relating to the manus and one pedal (foot) track, both from the same or hand. body side. Mesozoic Era: interval of geological time Cretaceous Period: interval of geological time from 252–66 million years ago, divided from 145–66 million years ago (see ‘Mesozoic into the Triassic Period (252–201 Ma), Era’). the Jurassic Period (201–145 Ma) and Digital: in the context of a living animal the Cretaceous Period (145–66 Ma). or track that it has made, relating to the digits Also knows as the ‘Age of Dinosaurs’ or the of either the manus (hand) or pes (foot). ‘Age of Reptiles’. Footprint: a synonym for a single track Neogene Period: interval of geological time (see ‘track’ and ‘trackway’). In the context from 23–2.6 million years ago of the proposed Safe Boat Harbour, ‘footprint’ (see ‘Cenozoic Era’). 2 2 is also used to refer to the area (in m or km ) Ornithischian: herbivorous dinosaur covered by the construction. belonging to the group Ornithischia (‘bird- Hardstand: a paved area for parking heavy hipped’). Ornithischian dinosaurs include vehicles. heterodontosaurids, thyreophorans (armoured dinosaurs), ornithopods, marginocephalians Holocene Epoch: interval of geological time (horned
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